Academic freedom in the former Soviet Union

This page is primarily devoted to documenting the ongoing assault on independent social science research centers in Russia. Several such institutions–the Levada Center polling agency being the best-known among them–have come under attack as part of the recent wave of repressive measures against Russian NGOs, a growing number of which are being accused of acting as “foreign agents.” Scroll down to learn about attacks on academic freedom in other post-Soviet countries, and for links to websites about Russian cases from previous years. Also consult my blog for updates.

Multilingual

Osteuropa‘s campaign web site in support of the Levada Center (in English, Russian, German, French, Italian, and Czech). Contains translations of a statement by Lev Gudkov, the Center’s director, and of the prosecutorial “warning,” as well as links to different language versions of the international petition.

Podcast of a radio interview with sociologists Maria Matskevich, Viktor Voronkov, and Alexandra Dmitrieva, about the attack on the Levada Center and what it means for the future of sociological research in Russia (May 23, 2013). Here it is in embedded format:

Unfortunately, academic freedom in Russia and a number of neighboring countries is under threat from repressive state initiatives and, in a number of cases, corrupt academic administrators. This includes post-Soviet countries such as the EU member state of Latvia, where the secret services have lobbied to be granted a veto right on any academic research on national security grounds.

This page will feature links to sites that document such attacks. In the meantime, I am re-posting a number of links that I collected while working on my 2008 blog, “Save the European University at Saint Petersburg” (the blog also features a large collection of links to pages directly related to the attack on that university).

For global context, please consult the International Sociological Association’s blog “Universities in Crisis“.